SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian state-owned bank Caixa Economica Federal is close to selling a 9-billion-real (£1.8 billion) stake it owns in oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras is pictured next to a national flag at a gas station in Natal, Brazil November 19, 2018. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker

The share offering of the 2.3 percent stake owned by Caixa in Petrobras, as the oil company is known, depends on the publication of a new presidential decree authorizing the sale, the sources said, asking for anonymity to discuss private plans.

President Jair Bolsonaro has already signed a first decree authorizing Caixa to sell its Petrobras stake, but the decree had technical mistakes and needed to be republished, they said.

Once the new decree is signed, Caixa will hire investment banks to help manage the secondary share offering.

Press representatives at Caixa Federal declined to comment.

The sale of the Petrobras stake will be the second divestiture led by Caixa since Chief Executive Pedro Guimaraes took the helm at the state bank last month, after the sale of a 2.4 billion reais (£484.6 million) stake in reinsurer IRB Brasil Resseguros SA. The IRB share offering will be priced later on Tuesday.

These shares in IRB are owned by a government fund responsible for financing education and managed by Caixa.

Both transactions will be led by Caixa’s recently created investment banking unit, with around 30 bankers recruited internally.

Guimaraes recently appointed new senior management officials at Caixa. Andre Laloni, former head of UBS AG in Brazil and the Southern Cone, is the new chief financial officer, while former Banco Santander Brasil SA executive, Luciane Ribeiro, will lead Caixa’s asset management unit.